1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a buckling structure for combining multiple radiating fins and in particular, a high-density buckling mechanism for a stack of radiating fins comprising a plurality of metal plates.
2. Description of the Prior Art
As computer technology advances to deep sub-micron age, the dimension of microchips dramatically shrinks and the speed of these chips largely increases. This causes a heat problem when operating such high-density microchips. To dissipate the heat generated by the operating microchips and avoid the chips from burning down, radiating fins having large heat dissipating area are typically combined with the microchips. Generally, according to their fabrication method, there are three types of them: aluminum extrusion type, pressing molding type, and folded stack type. The aluminum extrusion type and pressing molding type radiating fins are superseding folded stack type radiating fins these days since the former provides limited heat dissipating area due to fabrication ability. The later provides higher packing density and thus has higher heat dissipating performance.
FIG. 1 illustrates a typical view of a prior art folded stack type radiating fin structure. The prior art folded stack type radiating fin structure 10a comprises a plurality of metal plates 11a each of which is formed by means of conventional mechanical pressing method and has similar size. The metal plate 11a is made of metal materials with high thermal conductivity such as copper or aluminum. Typically, the metal plate 11a is shaped into a U-shape or approximate L shape. The metal plate 11a comprises a main body 12a connected with an upper folded side and folded side portion 13a arranged in a parallel manner. The metal plates 11a are connected with a heat dissipating substrate 20a by soldering the lower folded side 13a with the surface of the substrate 20a. The substrate 20a is typically made of high thermal conductive metal materials such as copper or aluminum.
As illustrated in FIG. 1, to position the metal plates 11a, there are provided protruding portions 14a and corresponding recess portions 15a on each of the upper and lower folded sides 13a. The metal plates 11a are stacked in position by engaging the protrusion 14a with the corresponding recess portions 15a. However, such prior art positioning mechanism provides poor combination. Sometimes, metal plates 11a fall off due to collision.
FIG. 2 shows another prior art folded stack type radiating fin structure according to Taiwan Patent Publication No. 407753. As shown in FIG. 2, the radiating fins 30a comprises a plurality of metal plates 31a having at least one pair of buckling pieces 32a disposed at two opposite sides of each of the metal plates 31a. Each of the buckling pieces 32a defines a locking opening thereof. With such configuration, the metal plates 31a are stacked in approximately equal spacing for the sake of convection. An extending heat conducting strip 33a is combined at the lower side of each of the metal plates 31a. When assembling, the extending heat conducting strip 33a provides more heat dissipating area. Another approach to the improvement of positioning the radiating fins is disclosed in Taiwan Patent Publication No. 460110, entitled xe2x80x9cRadiating Structure for Computer CPUxe2x80x9d. A plurality of metal plates buckle to each other to form a radiating set. Buckling slots and buckling hooks are provided along an upper side of each of the metal plates. A folded heat conducting wing piece is provided at a lower, side of each of the metal plates. The width of the buckling slot is equal to the width of the heat conducting wind piece. The buckling hook extends from the center of the buckling slot and has a smaller width than the width of the buckling slot, such that the buckling hook can be folded into the slot. When assembling, the heat conducting wing piece of each of the metal plates contacts the underlying substrate.
Unfortunately, the above-mentioned prior art patents cannot provide firmly joint between two metal plates. Accordingly, there is a strong need for an improved buckling structure for radiating fins which is simplified and have good reliability.
The main objective of the invention is to provide an improved radiator with positioning and buckling structure to solve the above-mentioned problems. In accordance with the present invention, a radiator with positioning and buckling structure is provided. The radiator is comprised of multiple metal plates, each of which comprises a main body, and a folded side portion connected to one or two sides of the main body. The positioning and buckling structure for a radiator is disposed on each of the metal plates. The positioning and buckling structure includes a resilient snapping piece extending from the folded side portion. The resilient snapping piece has a cleaved groove thereon and at two sides of the snapping piece there is provided two hooking portions. A buckling slot is disposed on the folded side portion of the metal plate corresponding to the snapping piece. The buckling slot is connected to a rear opening having a smaller width than the width of the snapping width. The metal plates are stacked together by inserting the snapping piece of the metal plate into the buckling slot of an adjacent metal plate, the protrusion of the aperture passes through the rear opening to engage with the buckling slot. Other objects, advantages and novel features of the invention will become more clearly and readily apparent from the following detailed description when taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.